TONIGHT WITH TRAV RATES “THE BLACK PHONE” WITH…

Film Synopsis: After being abducted by a child killer known as ” The Grabber” (Ethan Hawke), and locked in a soundproof basement, a 13-year-old boy, Finney Blake (Mason Thames) starts receiving calls on a disconnected phone from the killer’s previous victims!

Trav’s Critique on “THE BLACK PHONE” ➡️ This was the BEST horror film since the 2007 film, “Dead Silence.” The Black Phone is a movie that I love because it shows how a kid can have the upper hand on an adult in a unique situation by using all the available resources available to you in order to escape and survive and Finney Blake uses that black phone PLUS his mind, skills, and stellar determination to prevail! I say that because I haven’t watched a good horror film since that film! I really don’t think that Hollywood can make good or at least halfway decent scary movies now-a-days.

THIS movie was really very good – casting the very young actor Mason Thames as the lead protagonist of the film was genius! Whoever Thames’ agent and acting coach is – he should be everyone’s coach and agent because Thames’ WILL be the next best star in Hollywood! Believe you me! Mark my words! This film, The Black Phone just might be his breakout film!

He and Madeleine McGraw had the sweetest, most absolutely adorable little, loveable sibling on-screen chemistry magic that I have ever seen in my entire life! She was his little sister, but she was a little brutal hard knock thug protecting him and he was the same with her and even the kids in school saw their tight close-knit bond. They were inseparable those two; Gwen and Finney.

I’ve never seen Ethan Hawke in such a gory, brutal, kidnapping role such as this one as The Black Phone before in my life. He literally frightened the hell out of me! Finney is a shy kid who is bullied in school and has a best friend, Robin who comes to his rescue at every turn, but he gives him the wise wisdom and very sage advice that almost anyone would give in this kind of situation that goes on all around the world – bullying.

Robin tells Finney that one day he will have to man up, face the cowards, and stand up for himself. Now, don’t get me wrong on what I’m about to say because I AM NOT ADVOCATING for violence – AT ALL! But, at times, standing up for yourself WILL involve physical contact aka fighting whether you want to – or not because there will come a certain….”breaking point” where you will come to the harsh realization where enough will be enough and you will have had enough of someone hitting, smacking, or beating on you each and every day.

There are TWO types of bullies; the ones that do it because they enjoy seeing people who they think are weak will not fight back and have nothing better to do than bully others, and then you have the other bullies who do it so their alleged victims can strike back to see if they will fight so they can attack them even worse and that is where it can easily spiral out of control and possibly into something far more deadly.

Finney had Robin all the way up until the end on that last phone call on the black phone. Finney was a child trapped in that basement by a murderous monster, but the ONE constant that stayed in my mind the entire time while watching the film was at how well Finney handled the situation that he was in. If it had been an adult trapped like that with or without a black phone – I truly believe they would NOT have done ALL of the things that Finney did in order to survive. He was an extraordinary character. Mason Thames played an extraordinary role!

Face your fears…HEAD ON…IF it is NOT chopped off, that is! #TonightWithTrav